If you equate urinal cakes, public parks, and the sound of toilets flushing with the pinnacle of luxury, then, boy, does Japan have a hotel for you.

Artist Tatsu Nishi (the same man who recently created a living room in the middle of New York's Columbus Circle) has built a one-room hotel inside a public toilet in Osaka's Nakanoshima Park. He's calling it "Nakanoshima Hotel." And before you go thinking it's just some fanciful, high-concept, bunch of art baloney, keep in mind that this is an actual hotel that costs 10,000 yen ($125) per night, and includes a proper bed, shower, and separate bathroom for hotel guests.

There's even a desk! Because, after all, everybody does their best thinking in the bathroom.

Ibis is showing guests that they can be their most creative but when they're fast asleep in bed. A select few European Ibis hotels are taking part in a new interactive program called "Sleep Art," which has to be the most unusual example we've seen in a while of cool art being integrated into the hotel experience.

Basically, guests sleep on a special mattress, which analyzes their movements, and then sends that data to a robot arm programmed to create a unique painting based on the information (kind of like the Yobot's long-lost cousin!). Since every person has a different way of sleeping, every painting will be one-of-a-kind.

And if you love the idea of bringing home a work of sleep-induced art, but are too creeped out by the presence of a soulless robot arm twitching and whirring next to your bed, then worry not. The mechanical arm is actually located in a remote studio in Paris. Which leads us to think the whole "Sleep Art" initiative isn't about expression creativity at all, but rather an opportunity for Ibis to flaunt its strong WiFi signals.

In a new exhibit at The Dallas Museum of Art, paintings that once hung on the walls of suite 850 (pictured above) in the Hotel Texas will be gathered together for the first time since November 22, 1963. And if that suite number—or the date—seem significant, then you're right. It's where President John F Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy spent their last night before the former President's assassination.

The Washington Post reports on an interesting background story about the artworks: prior to the Kennedys' arrival, local newspapers had painted such a bad portrait of the hotel's "unremarkable" Suite 850 that prominent citizens rallied to fill the space with some impressive highbrow art.

And now the museum is re-assembling the collection in time for the fiftieth anniversary of JFK's death. Visitors to the exhibit will get to experience the exact same art that the Kennedys did in 1963, thereby re-living a unique moment in US hotel history.

Just the other day we were flipping through a magazine, when suddenly an image on one of the pages made us stop and go, 'Wow.' It showed a Helena Bonham Carter-type lady with messy black hair and an elongated striped neck with a 17th century ruff under her chin, peering off to one side, superimposed onto a rich red background.

It was an ad, we realized, for The Quin, Manhattan's soon-to-open 198-room boutique hotel on West 57th St. And while a start date still hasn't been set, it looks like the hotel's website is now up and running, offering a first glimpse of one of the guest rooms!

Looking for your next hotel art fix? A visit to Conrad Indianapolis might well be in order, as the hotel is planning a 40-day exhibition that will feature 25 prints by Picasso—including an authenticated original drawing. Though unlike a certain Melbourne hotel we know, Conrad will not be encouraging anyone to steal anything.

But for Picasso fans, this will be a jackpot of sorts, as not one but two exhibitions will be installed in the hotel's first-floor public space. On view in the lobby will be the 25 etchings, lithographs and linoleum cuts; meanwhile, a series of posters authorized by Picasso (but created by another printer) will go up in the Alcove event space. We're guessing most folks will come through in search of the original Picasso—or maybe just a free glass of wine at the gallery opening on September 7.

The Art Institute in Chicago is currently hosting a major Roy Lichtenstein retrospective featuring more than 170 iconic works from the pop artist including several drawings of his major pieces, before they got the Benday dot treatment.

Since its the first retrospective for Lichtenstein in nearly 20 years, art enthusiasts have been flocking to the museum to take it all in (the exhibition will also head to the National Gallery in DC this fall). And one museum-goer who was quite taken with the pop art was Laurence Geller, the owner of both the Fairmont Chicago and The Intercontinental Chicago.

Geller was so impressed with the exhibit that he approached the museum to do a collaboration with his hotels. The result? These awesome pop art door hangers that are currently hanging from the knobs at both hotels.

Walking into the XVA Art Hotel, guests are hit with a refreshing change of scenery. A green neon light shaped like a fruit fly hangs over an armchair illustrated with a vintage movie still from the 1960s. Not exactly the kind of "furniture" you'd normally expect from a hotel in Dubai.

Giant crystal chandeliers, an army of see-through elevators, 5-ton boats hanging from the ceiling—yes, that's all standard fare in the City of Gold. But actual, imaginative, fun-to-look-at art? It's as if we'd stepped into another world.

Last June, something new came to roost in the plaza in front of The Standard in the Meatpacking District. It was ginormous, it was shy...and it was art.

That piece, "Companion (Passing Through)" by KAWS, may be long gone, but the art series it began remains. This summer, The Standard is hosting another large-scale sculpture in the plaza, though this one will do without a head, thank you very much.

"Big Kastenmann" by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm is now on display and free to see all the way through November 2. This ensures that the Germany-forged, 18' tall, cast aluminum piece (whose title translates to "big box man") will be on display through fall's NY Fashion Week and the parties that typically overtake the hotel.

OK, interactive holograms of deceased celebrities haven't quite made it into the repertoire of common hotel amenities. But how does this sound instead: a hotel lobby filled with original black-and-white pictures spanning the entire career of Hollywood's most photographed star?

That's what Florence's Gallery Hotel Art has planned for the rest of the summer, and they're throwing in a few extras to celebrate the exhibit, on display now. Like breakfast, a three-course dinner, room upgrade, and free entry to the Ferragamo museum.

Giving credence to the oft-quoted Marilyn Monroe maxim: "There's so much to smile about."

The Hazelton Hotel in Toronto has an impressive contemporary art collection. So impressive, in fact, that the hotel was receiving inquiries from guests about it. Now what to do if you’re a hotel that prides itself on exceptional service and wants to fulfill a guest’s quest for art knowledge? You hire an art expert to satisfy the need.

The hotel’s art concierge is available through live chat to not only answer any questions you may have about the hotel’s extensive art collection, but to also offer insight into the many art dealers and galleries found in the Yorkville region where The Hazelton is located.

If you’re truly art hungry, you can meet the art concierge in person via an appointment to find out, say, what a particular artist was thinking when he or she painted the particular piece that’s hanging in your room, or to get the inside scoop on the happenings in the art world in one of Canada’s cultural centers.

What kind of art do you stick in your lobby if you're a Great Lakes resort perched near the entrance to a major harbor, with several famous lighthouses within easy driving (or boating) distance? Well, if you're the Maumee Bay State Park Lodge, you don't just hang a giant painting of a stormy lighthouse scene; you take the entire lens of one and install that.

This is the original 1904 glass lens for the Toledo Lighthouse, made in Paris by Barbier and Bernard. Its beam of light was visible 16 miles around. Eventually it needed replacing and was removed in 1995, eventually ending up here at Maumee Bay in 2008. These days the lighthouse utilizes a lens made of plastic.

We once told you about the amazing views from an executive suite at the Parc 55 Hotel in San Francisco. But to be honest, there's some photo-worthy action going on downstairs too, in the hotel's gigantic lobby (that also doubled as our office for an afternoon).

From quaint seating areas like the one above to funky art and free internet, the lobby at Parc 55 is the perfect fun-filled hotel pit stop to break up your walking tour of San Francisco.